Mark of the Candy Cane
by Meregil Svarteros Laevateinn
Summary: Sam could see something was off with Dean. But he didn't know what exactly. He sometimes behaved a bit strangely, but that was a new one. Two days ago he started cooking for a regiment. Yesterday he installed a Christmas tree and today he couldn't stop decorating. And he hadn't slept for two days. / Post s8: No Zeke but Sam is fine, Kevin is in the bunker, and Cas is human. Destiel


Heya everybody !

This is my first work on the Supernatural fandom (and I think my first crack too. At least on this website)  
I've seen a tumblr post the other day (so no it's not an original idea) and… Well this happened. Just for you to know, I thought it would be around 800 words. Yeah, I got a bit carried away

* * *

Freaking witches.

To be honest, Dean kinda had brought it on himself. But now everyone in the bunker had to deal with the consequences.

They had investigated a case in a nearby town. A simple one, really : a banal salt and burn. It had taken them two days to deal with, with Castiel being here. They had been about to leave town to go back at the bunker when _it_ happened -well, Sam supposed it was then. Dean had had been grumpy the whole afternoon that day, and had started to snap at people decorating the streets. Around the 20th, it was actually not surprising to see people out, it was even late. Usually it didn't bother Dean at all, on the contrary, but hey, sometimes he couldn't understand his brother. Maybe he was annoyed because this year they had a home and they didn't have anything decorated ? That probably wasn't it, but Sam remembered that years ago, Dean had almost harassed him because he wanted to celebrate Christmas like when they were kids. So, why not.

But still. That wasn't the point. The point was that Dean apparently had pissed off some witch in the vicinity, because he clearly had been cursed. They had come home quite late the other day, and had gone to bed almost instantly. Nothing weird. The next morning, though… the next morning had been interesting to say the least. Sam had woken up to find Dean cooking in he kitchen. Nothing unusual so far. Except Cas had been looking at his brother even more intensely than usual. And Kevin had eyes as big as sauce plates.

Because Dean had made cookies. Dozens of them. They were all over the counter. He also had prepared hot chocolate… and was apparently trying to make more biscuits if the mess on the stove was anything to get by.

Sam had cleared his throat. "Dean ?"

His brother had turned, a huge grin on his face. "Heya Sammy !"

"Are you okay ?"

"Why would I not be ?" Oh, he could have given him a dozen reasons. But, that hadn't been the point here apparently. Or Dean had finally gone completely nuts. Hey, he was the only one who hadn't already !

"Hum… Why did you do all this ?"

"It's almost Christmas ! And we have done nothing !" Okay. Christmas. "Yes and ? It's not as if we usually do something."

Dean had scowled at him. "Sammy you're no fun. Sit." Sam hadn't moved. "Come on !", his brother had urged, waving his spatula.

The youngest Winchester had then exchanged a glance with Castiel -the ex-angel seemed even more confused than him- and had taken a seat at the kitchen table. Almost immediately, a plate was put in front of him, filled with pancakes and some cookies. He had to admit it, it had smelled really nice. And… tasted fucking good too, actually. He remembered saying so to Dean in between two bites, causing a huge smile to appear on his brother's face.

He then had decided that he could think about Dean's strange behaviour later, the food was too good to be wasted by too much thinking.

In retrospection, this hadn't been bad at all. It had been so innocent and not worrisome… compared to what happened after.

Once Dean had had finished to cook - Sam didn't wait for it, he had gone to do some research in the library while Kevin continued to work on the tablet -, he had fled to his room. Or so Castiel had said. The dark haired man had stayed in the kitchen with Dean the whole time, and he was still a bit thrown off by the quantity of food the hunter had produced in such a short period. Anyway. Dean had fled to his room to come out of it not even 10 minutes later, "dressed as if he was preparing to slaughter an army in the cold" according to Cas. He had lost him around the garage though, then had come to Sam. Okay, his brother was acting strange. But still, it was nothing concerning. Yet.

The moment Sam said so to the ex-angel, they saw Dean take the stairs. With an axe. Both men sprang to their feet -Kevin oblivious to it all- but by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Dean was already outside.

At that point they started worrying. Once outside, they had split but couldn't find him. The fact that the Impala was still here had reassured them a bit : at least Dean wouldn't be able to wander too far away.

He had reappeared hours later, his axe on one shoulder and a log under the other arm. He had gone straight away for the workshop he had fixed himself months ago. Half an hour later, they had seen him go to the kitchen and come back a sandwich in hand soon after. He didn't stop to acknowledge any of them.

Sam had gone to his room from 3 to 5, and when he came back to the library, there had been an addition to the room. The log he had seen previously tucked under Dean's arm had a hole in the middle and was in the middle of the room. He had looked at Cas, hoping he would know something, but the ex-angel told him he only shortly came back too. Sam then asked Kevin, who just shrugged.

Sam had just sighed and gone back to the book he had left earlier. That log looked a lot like the ones used for Christmas tree.

At dinner, Dean had said nothing except that he was a bit tired and would probably go to bed early. When Sam had asked what he was planning, he had just said "Trust me Sammy, you're gonna like it!"

Sam realised now that he probably should have stopped his brother before he was too late. Because the next morning, he had woken up well rested, happy about a day beginning quietly… only to find a giant Christmas tree in the library not ten minutes later. In fact Dean had almost gotten no sleep at all. That had been yesterday morning. It had only gotten worse since. His brother had disappeared once again in the dusty old rooms of the bunker and didn't even came to eat lunch. When Sam, Cas and Kevin -they finally talked some sense into him, he was actually taking breaks during the day- went back to the library, Dean was standing on a ladder, placing a star on top of the tree. And he was whistling Jingle Bells.

As usual when his brother was concerned, Castiel had seemed really curious about Dean's motivations. The following exchange had been rather fun, with the ex-angel not quite grasping why Dean wanted to observe this tradition all of a sudden.

Sam had left the two men to their discussion with a roll of the eyes. The thing was, he had been so focused on his computer for the rest of the afternoon that he hadn't noticed Dean doing back and forths. Not until Kevin called him. "I think something's wrong with Dean, Sam.", he had said. And well, sure his brother was acting strange, but that didn't mean something was wrong, right ?

Sam had raised his head just after finishing this thought. Yeah. Okay. He could see why Kevin would say that. Dean had managed to bring back cardboards upon cardboards, full of decorations. And he hadn't planned on stopping any soon apparently, because seconds later, he and Castiel had emerged with other parcels, the latter having only a mop of hair sticking out.

Sam had asked his brother if he was fine, but had been dismissed again. He had started to actually worry when his offer for food had been denied in the evening. It had taken Cas insisting for ten good minutes to have him eat two cookies at nine. That had been yesterday evening.

This morning Sam had woken up and immediately started to wonder what Dean would have done. As he had gotten dressed, he had thought about the possible reasons behind Dean's behaviour.

He had found Dean passed out on a couch, tucked beneath a blanket, Castiel watching him from a chair. The ex-angel had had a frown on his face and had looked relieved to see Sam standing in front of him.

"Good morning Cas."

"Good morning."

"Have you been there for long ?"

"About an hour. I think your brother has been cursed." Without waiting for him, he had stood up and walked around the couch. "There", he had said, pointing just below Dean neck, "see that mark ?".

Sam had nodded, not without wondering how the heck Cas had spotted this tiny mark. It almost looked like a really small… candy cane ? "It was already there yesterday, and I think it was there also two days ago when Dean was cooking so much."

"Okay, I believe you for the mark. But what kind of witch would do that ? That's absurd."

They had stayed silent for a few minutes before Dean woke up in a jolt and started walking towards the tree.

Here he was now, trying to restrain Dean in order to talk to him.

"Dean we have to talk. What's wrong with you ?"

"Nothing Sammy, I just want to finish to decorate this tree ! And get mistletoe. We need mistletoe."

"Wow wow, calm down. You're not getting out of here that fast. What's happening to you Dean ?"

"I just need to decorate, Sammy. Once I start I can't… I can't stop. *"

Sam lifted his head to look at Castiel, who was raising an eyebrow at him.

"Okay. You're right. What do we do now ?"

The ex-angel looked at Dean who had escaped his brother's grip and was now going to the tree and sighed. "Kevin is in the kitchen. Both of you should look for a hex bag. I'm going to make him eat something like yesterday. Then I'll look in here while watching over him."

"Good luck with that. Too bad we don't have any pie."

"I am not entirely sure it would have worked anyway.", he said, before catching up with the other hunter.

Sam on his part left Castiel to his task and got to the kitchen. He quickly explained the situation to Kevin, who threw him a 'I told you so' look. They got into motion as quickly as possible, seeing that they had a lot to do.

Sam had just finished to check the kitchen when he decided he would have a break for food. He had been looking for the hex bag in dean's room, then in his brother's workshop and finally the kitchen. Kevin had been looking in the hallways, the entrance hall and the garage, and Castiel should still be with Dean in the library. He decided to make some sandwiches -after all it was way past midday, and everybody had been active all morning.

As he came into the main room with a platter and sandwiches for the others, his resolve grew back. As funny as the sight in front of him was, they really had to stop this. Apparently Dean had found Santa hats and decided Castiel would be a good candidate. Except the hat was too big for the dark haired man, and it was half falling in front of his eyes. Literally a lost puppy. Who just happened to have caught a glimpse of him laughing.

"This isn't funny Sam."

"I know, sorry." He wasn't at all. Because in addition to that, Cas had tinsel around his shoulders and was maintaining the ladder to spare Dean any injuries.

"I looked through the entire library but didn't find anything."

"Me neither. I made sandwiches by the way, if you're hungry."

"Thank you. I will eat one as soon as your brother will have finished whatever he's doing."

Sam took a seat. "I hope Kevin will have more luck. There's nothing in the kitchen, in his workshop or his room, nothing in the library… That doesn't leave much choice." Hum. Eating was good. He should propose to Castiel to take his place for a moment after that.

The youngest Winchester let his eyes roam around the room while he ate. Was that…

"Cas, is it mistletoe ?"

"Yeah. He almost threw a fit because I wouldn't let him go outside. So I went with him earlier. Don't worry we didn't go too far." Sam shook his head. This was starting to get out of hand.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming closer. Why was Kevin running now ?

"I found it !", the young man said, Sam springing to his feet, " I found it !". And sure, there was a hex bag in his hand. Finally.

"Where was it ?", asked Castiel, relief evident in his voice.

"… The Impala."

"Really ?!", Sam asked incredulously. "He's going to be pissed." He said, looking at his brother.

"Yeah. I'm gonna get something to burn it."

Sam nodded and pointed at the sandwiches. "Thanks Kev. And after that you should eat and rest a little."

"Thank god this is gonna be over." Sam said, sagging on the couch in relief.

As he was eating the last bite, Kevin got back in the room.

"Here we go."

"Dean ! Could you stop for two minutes please ?" Both then turned at the sound of an exasperated Castiel. He only had the hat left and was trying to prevent Dean from getting back up on the ladder by blocking him near the wall. Apparently the mistletoe still had to be hung.

Sam chuckled and turned back to the hex bag. "Alright, let's get over it."

In mere seconds they had the cursed object burning, a rather beautiful blue flame coming out of it. Then they heard a loud thump. The breaking of the curse seemed to have left Dean a bit dizzy because he had fallen onto Cas. Indeed the hunter had the ex-angel trapped in between his body and the wall, his left hand on Cas' shoulder and the right one supporting him on the wall. The mistletoe was hanging from his arm, swaying gently. Moving was seemingly out of the question for both of them, as they stayed in the same position. And stared at each other, as usual.

The next thing to happen was nothing near usual though.

Two more seconds passed, then Dean was kissing the other man. And Cas seemed to overcame his surprise quite quickly because soon after, Sam saw one of hand hands sneak behind his brother's neck while the other one was placed on Dean's lower back.

 _Oh, well,_ Sam thought as he left the room to give them some privacy. _Finally._

* * *

The line marked with * is not mine. I found it on the post that inspired me !

Don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of it.

See you


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